Friday, December 01, 2006
Back from London after several traumatic return flights - distance kills.
This was my first time to London(!) and bizarrely I am glad to finally have gone.
London seems to be the default destination for South African youth-types and every dumb nut who has been on a gap year has been.
So invariably the response that you get from anyone when you say that you've not been is: 'Really? So have you been outside South Africa at all?'
Yes - asshole. There is a world beyond Wimbledon and Earl's Court, y'know.
Regardless; I did enjoy London and am glad to have been there in the late autumn/winter.
This season seems to me somehow very true to what it means to live in London; cold, wet and dark, but somehow comforting and very `present` - the city has a real sense of place.
Invariably we did do many of the sites[1] - but only on stroll pasts.
I was relieved to see that even world cities like London have crappy curio shops.
Of course there are many things that live up to every expectation.
The Tate Modern rocked, featuring a couple of cool exhibitions including the very cool Carsten Höller slides[2].
Carsten Höller's Slides
Naturally I also dug on the urban culture bits - the music shops are great and I got some really nasty UK Dubstep in the guise of Skream! amongst other things.
I also dug on the slightly packaged sleaze of Soho.
A particularly delicious outing involved dinner at the St. John Bread and Wine bistro in Spitalfields.
Nose to Tail Eating
On day trips (while Anita attended her conference) I headed out to Portobello Road[3], WhiteChapel[4] and the ultra-skanky Camden Town[5].
Freedom Press
84b Whitechapel High Street, London E1
The tube freaked me out, as did Oxford street. The National Gallery rocked, as did Hyde Park.
Hyde Park in Autumn
I really liked London, but there's something missing.
London has a real energy and massive variety, but here's the problem; London didn't surprise me in the way that Washington or Barcelona or Tel Aviv(!) or Rio de Janeiro did.
Those cities blew my mind. Somehow London didn't.
I really like the city, but wouldn't want to live there.
[1] Wesminster Puke, Big Bore, Tower Snooze
[2] The queue for tickets was massively long but I do wish that I had time to go sliding
[3] Very cool and not nearly as packaged as what I had imagined
[4] In search of LARC and Freedom Press - both of which turned out to be closed; damn hippies
[5] Which was dissapointing beyond description with its fake ruffness and nudge-nudging salvia hawkers.
This was my first time to London(!) and bizarrely I am glad to finally have gone.
London seems to be the default destination for South African youth-types and every dumb nut who has been on a gap year has been.
So invariably the response that you get from anyone when you say that you've not been is: 'Really? So have you been outside South Africa at all?'
Yes - asshole. There is a world beyond Wimbledon and Earl's Court, y'know.
Regardless; I did enjoy London and am glad to have been there in the late autumn/winter.
This season seems to me somehow very true to what it means to live in London; cold, wet and dark, but somehow comforting and very `present` - the city has a real sense of place.
Invariably we did do many of the sites[1] - but only on stroll pasts.
I was relieved to see that even world cities like London have crappy curio shops.
Of course there are many things that live up to every expectation.
The Tate Modern rocked, featuring a couple of cool exhibitions including the very cool Carsten Höller slides[2].
Carsten Höller's SlidesNaturally I also dug on the urban culture bits - the music shops are great and I got some really nasty UK Dubstep in the guise of Skream! amongst other things.
I also dug on the slightly packaged sleaze of Soho.
A particularly delicious outing involved dinner at the St. John Bread and Wine bistro in Spitalfields.
Nose to Tail EatingOn day trips (while Anita attended her conference) I headed out to Portobello Road[3], WhiteChapel[4] and the ultra-skanky Camden Town[5].
Freedom Press84b Whitechapel High Street, London E1
The tube freaked me out, as did Oxford street. The National Gallery rocked, as did Hyde Park.
Hyde Park in AutumnI really liked London, but there's something missing.
London has a real energy and massive variety, but here's the problem; London didn't surprise me in the way that Washington or Barcelona or Tel Aviv(!) or Rio de Janeiro did.
Those cities blew my mind. Somehow London didn't.
I really like the city, but wouldn't want to live there.
[1] Wesminster Puke, Big Bore, Tower Snooze
[2] The queue for tickets was massively long but I do wish that I had time to go sliding
[3] Very cool and not nearly as packaged as what I had imagined
[4] In search of LARC and Freedom Press - both of which turned out to be closed; damn hippies
[5] Which was dissapointing beyond description with its fake ruffness and nudge-nudging salvia hawkers.
// posted by werner @ 11:29:00 am 
